Red Wings' Petr Mrazek: Will play in Worlds

Mrazek said he'll play in the 2017 IIHF World Championship, representing the Czech Republic, Ansar Khan of MLive.com reports.

Analysis:

With the Red Wings not involved in the postseason for the first time in 26 seasons, Mrazek will focus on another international tournament. The 25-year-old had an interesting season, getting wholly outplayed by veteran Jimmy Howard but still reeling in 44 starts and 50 games due to various injuries afflicting his elder. In that span, he went 18-21-9 with a 3.04 GAA and .901 save percentage; if those numbers look underwhelming, well, it's because they are. However, some of the blame should be on upper management for depriving the blue line of experienced, two-way weapons. The athletic Mrazek should bounce back next year, but perhaps nothing would move the needle on his fantasy stock more than if Howard happens to move to the Las Vegas expansion team this summer.